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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  5. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. cold — not warm
  4. safe — a strongbox
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. land — ground
  7. file — a line of people
  8. current — of water
  9. land — to come down
  10. current — electric
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. file — a tool
  13. current — happening now
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. land — a country
  16. bark — to shout
  17. cold — an illness
  18. scale — in music
  19. chip — for betting
  20. scale — size or range
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. chip — to eat
  24. file — a document

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com